Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A Love For Vintage Books





This is a picture of the bookshelves in our family room. I've loaded them up with my vintage book collection and other antiques, family photos, etc.






When I began buying the old books I had no idea it would become "a thing." Do we ever realize this until we have too many?




I just know I love the wonderful, one of a kind, artistic designs on these 19th century hardbound books.





You just won't find this kind of detail on books today. Why is this a lost art? Maybe it costs too much?




I just know I'm glad they were created.




I have a special section for poetry with books by Tennyson, Browning, and more. Then there's my "classics" shelf. This could be bigger but I think I doing okay since I haven't been collecting that long.




The best part is...I only buy if I can find them for 5.00 or less. There have been a couple of exceptions. I think I paid 12.00 for a Nicholas Nickleby book because it is in "pristine" condition!



I have just picked up a gorgeous, red and gold bound book called Pirate Island.




Now I've never heard of the title and probably won't read it...but it looks fascinating, doesn't it? Maybe someday, when Dear Bebe has grown and I will again have time for such a luxury as reading an antique book.


I wonder who's book it was and if they enjoyed reading it. A lot of them have writing on the first page from the giver to the receiver and a date. This one is 1896.




What do you like to collect?






3 comments:

Ms.Daisy said...

Jillian, Great post! I love that red and gold bound book, Pirate Island...it sounds as though it might have been a children's book in the manner of Treasure Island, etc.? I can just imagine the boy who may have received this book as a Christmas or birthday present! How neat is that?

Love,
Ms.Daisy

MJ said...

I love vintage things too. Have you thought about how you will deal with them once Bebe starts moving? All my vintage stuff is in storage because I can't bear that they might get damaged (especially since they are mostly family heirlooms). But then I can't enjoy looking at them in storage! Always the conundrum!

Rue said...

Hi Jillian :)

I love old books too and I don't always read them either LOL

The last post was really interesting! I knew you had a job in TV at one time, but I didn't realize that you were around the stars that much. Being from CA, you see them all the time, but I don't have any pictures. I think it's cool that you do :)

Merry Christmas hugs,
rue